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Giant Paramount Auction of Star Trek Items
Alien54 writes "The first official studio auction of memorabilia from all five 'Star Trek' television series and 10 movie spinoffs, to be held from October 5 to 7 in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the original 'Star Trek' series, was announced by Christie's on Thursday. CBS Paramount Television Studios is cleaning out its vaults for the sale, comprising more than 1,000 lots totaling some 4,000 items. Items to hit the block include props, weapons, prosthetics and set dressings unearthed from five Paramount warehouses, as well as many special and spectacular items highlighted in the various shows." Update: 05/21/2006 14:57 GMT by SM Several users have provided us with the direct link to the auction site for easy viewing.
I want Shatner's toupee.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
7 of 9's cat suit. :-)
...Paramount won't be needing these objects anymore because it's only gonna produce prequel movies and series from now on? Let's hope not!
They went through PLUNTY of them on the recent shows, maybe they would be enough that they'd go cheap...
The big angry black thing that killed Tasha Yar.
Czech language for absolute beginners
Eww. A Trekkie yardsale. Reminds me of florida.
I call dibs on the Enterprise!
You must think in Russian.
A warp core. No wait, a transporter. These things are in working condition right?
Oh You POS
Just to see the time-travelling aliens bid furiously on the tox'utat, or however it's spelled.
Can anyone else imagine the smell in the auction room with lots of nervous Star Trek fans?
There must be something about joining an **AA, lowers IQ or something. This is a pretty valuable collection. Sell it once,you get one pay day. Open a museum, add the props, have movie showings, interactive kiosks, etc, host conferences, what-ever, and have 365 paydays a year, for a *long* time.
Finally the time has come to sell the captains chair I... found.
'nuff said.
So when do you think the lines will start for this auction. I say 3 weeks prior... What a sad and pathetic existence the trekkies have.
(Sung to the tune of Prince's Raspberry Beret)
Shatner's scary toupee,
the kind that you find in a used rug store....
"Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex, I could pinch them." --Marvin the Martian
I sure could use some of that for a new garage door :-)
-H
captains chair and a replicator... and a couple of phasers.. hmmmm, that would be enough... also the giant viewing screen, old STTNG epiosodes would look great on that!
"I love the smell of sweaty geeks in the morning. It's that smell, that stale sweat smell. It smells like . . . .dorkiness."
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Sisko is a god. :)
be cool.
Not sure what would happen to the resale value, but putting a lcd display into a prop computer would be cooler than making a nintendo into a dvd player.
However, I am not a fan of Star-Trek conventions. 99% of the content of a typical convention is whoring (a.k.a. selling) memorabilia: photos with the aging actors, cards, spacecraft models, etc. The entire convention is lined with booths hawking memorabilia.
Yet, the best part of "Star Trek" cannot be bought. It is a story about how humankind transcends the suffering and limitations of life in the 20th century and 21st century. The Enterprise's entering warp is a metaphor for our breaking the bonds of our limitations as we soar to a greater, better future.
The best part of "Star Trek" is the message of hope. (I have read the profiles of many felony convicts and have yet to come across one who is a Trekkie.)
Hope is not what Christie's auction will sell. This auction is a bigger, more expensive version of a typical convention.
http://www.christies.com/special_sites/startrek/ov erview.asp
Tragically it is in Flash.
I wonder if they have the dilithium crystals from "Mudd's Women"? If you ever need a dilithium crystal there's really no substitute.
Hopefully, this is a sale of all of the useless bits of junk accumulated over the years - no real good stuff. The equivalent of a garage sale, where you're selling odd bits you no longer want, but keeping the useful/valuable stuff in the house.
I say this because Star Trek seems to have become an important heritage nowadays, and they seem to keep doing exhibitions etc. about it. Exhibitions would be rather difficult, and not very good, if all the interesting stuff was in the hands of a few thousand fans.
Of course, if it is decent stuff, I guess a single person / group could try to buy as much as possible, and open up a mini Star Trek museum, or something. That could be interesting.
as if millions of trekkies suddenly ran out of their parent's basement in glee.
I have a feeling that the Ressikan flute, estimated to sell for $300, will sell for much, much more. That particular episode struck a very large emotional chord from a lot of people, and that flute was the symbol representing the episode. If only I could go. :-(
Plz send me star trek to me at ur convenience.
My id 4 to send is startrek@spambob.com
President Bush got word of this... It seems he now wants to purchase 20,000 shield generators to protect the mexican border, "some of those shuttle thingies" for NASA, and by presidential decree, NO ONE is to sell Dick a phaser.
-JDS
A Klingon Captain's chair.
:-)
I think it'll work marvelously in my office.
Leonid S. Knyshov
Find me on Quora
Make sure you get it installed with the viewscreen and navigation console options.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
"Employees not recognizing your authority at the office?" "Wish you had a self-destruct button nearby... just in case?" "Then bid now on Klingon Commander Kruge's chair and finally get the respect you deserve!"
Wrong series... You're thinking of the minbari, that's Babylon 5. ;)
At least Picard boldy went where no-one in pajama's has went before.
When I'm in my pajamas, I don't want to step out my front door.
Kirk had a spiffy uniform. If I had a spiffy uniform, I'd go places too.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
If you leave now, we won't get out our plastic phaser toys and wave them menacingly at you.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
That's ok
*SNIFFFFF* - ahhhhh huhuhuhuhuhuh....
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
Darn; so close. Now it would have been very cool if this had happened sooner. I.e., if these nerdishly cool collectibles (NCC) had been auction sale 1701.
Ya kno': NCC-1701
"I say this because Star Trek seems to have become an important heritage nowadays, and they seem to keep doing exhibitions etc. about it. Exhibitions would be rather difficult, and not very good, if all the interesting stuff was in the hands of a few thousand fans."
Oh I don't know. It would shut up all those "set my culture free" people that show up every time we have a copyright story. "Here's your culture. Now go away!"
They invented Transparent Aluminum a while back.
You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
The ultrasafe transporter is in good condition but if you think it will never fail? Better don't wear that red shirt when using it !
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Caveat emptor!
I want a Phaser and umm...a Romulan Cloaking device....and uhhh....the holographic doctor :P
Primordial Soup
Anyone who's watched all the documentaries, Trekkies 1 & 2, behind the scenes, etc., knows that Paramount's huge collection of props gets reused over and over again from movie to movie to show to movie ad infinitum.
Are they offloading their entire collection, or only part of it? Does this signify any particular decision with regards to future movies or shows?
A guy I know in Sunnyvale, CA bought a bottling machine for his meadery.
The day he got it, he spent all night pricking around with the interface to it, you know, where you set speeds, cork or screwcap, how much to put in each bottle etc.
And, then just for the hell of it, he realised you could reprogram it. He added a LCARS type interface, for the main screen. Funny as hell. It really confused the engineer who turned up the next day to show him how to turn it on...
john
...should have an episode where Denny Crane buys a phaser pistol from the auction, and starts carrying it instead of his handgun.
There are basically two variety of memorobilia collectors... those that want the big things, like the captain's chair or a wardrobe item etc, and the people that look for the little nicknacks. Probably the wisest collector would go for the little items, as they can have more of them and display them easier.
:)
Hmm... I'm not a big trekkie but I can think of a few items that would be nice. That flue of Picard's would be nice. Maybe a few isolinear chips. A comm badge. (STTNG please, those from the movies are gawdy!) Or that huge hunk of crystal dilithium that was in the enterprise's warp core.
Get a bunch of the touch pads from the doors or holodecks and use them for light switch wall plates.
And of course the computer display props. From what I've read, most of them (the ones that were not animated) were backlit reverse-glass paintings. Those would make awesome wall decorations in a chosen room of the house, hang 'em like paintings.
I also hear the props in the captain's ready-room are very popular. hah... remember the episode where the enterprise had an alien computer virus and picard ordered tea and got the teacup with the what.. bird of paradize flower in it? "now THAT should not have happened!" That would be a fun one to have.
Probaly the most fun props to have are the ones that not many people will even be considering.
Though previous poster is right, that flute is going to go for a lot more than $300. I'd expect it to draw $1500-2500. Key props from emotional/memorable episodes are bound to go for a mint.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I call dibs on the nuclear wessel!!!!!
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You're in luck. They're flogging off one from ST:V, estimated price $6000-$8000.
This already sort of exists: http://www.startrekexp.com/
Libertas in infinitum
I'd really like one of the phasers (dont care which model) but at $1,800 USD$ per?!?
they're insane. but they'll get it. just not from me.
there are other small bits like that, but they cost waaay too much!
.... and distressed that Jean Luc really didn't play the flute. I mean I can understand the Enterprise not being real, phasers being special effects and the transported being fake, but come on. Jean Luc can't play a flute from a civilization that didn't exist?
What next? Are we to find out that the medical devices they use on the show can't heal heart problems or bad acting?
I was following a punch line. No need to get hostile.
saurian brandy maybe?
Exactly. If they are offloading their entire warehouse stock of props, this auction officially marks the end of Star Trek for CBS/Paramount.
On the other hand, I want NBC to buy back Star Trek franchise.
\
OOO....they have the symbols of total logic (Star Trek I).
Gorkman
Paramount is making a big mistake even considering selling this items individually at auction. The collection should be kept whole and rented out to people and groups who want to make low-budget Star Trek movies.
Since Star Trek fans are different from ordinary movie audiences in their willingness to pay for any filmed episode even remotely related to this genre, the studio should rent the Star Trek sets to low-budget productions. They own the copyright and would make money off any production that uses the Star Trek motif, logos, and fictional settings.
The reason that they are selling the sets is because they don't plan to make anymore of these films themselves. The individual actors are too expensive or are no longer available due to age (or passing). The promotional costs are too high and the specialized audience too small to justify continued expenditures of $50-$100 million on further 'offical' Star Trek productions.
So let someone else make a new set of films for the fanatic audience. Hire new actors, write new plots, and establish new distribution channels. The biggest cost for new independent Star Trek productions is the elaborate and detailed sets. And these sets are already built, documented, and vacant. The money that could be made by renting these sets for independent productions is greater than the money gained by selling off the props individually. Especially since the individual props can be sold off to the fans for the same price in the future after the market for low-budget ST productions has been fully exploited.
For any other film series, selling off the props makes sense. But Star Trek has never been just any other film series. And selling off the props at this time makes no sense.
Anyone buying one of these things remotely will be rather surprised, maybe sorely disappointed, when they receive them in the mail.
They're very shoddily built. Almost laughably unartistic. Nothing like the realism and solidity and quality they seem on the television.
An acquaintance of mine, who worked for a company building props for ST:TNG, explained the illusion this way:
Seeing something on TV is like catching it out of the corner of your eye going 60 mph in a rainstorm.
So, since time is their least resource, they don't bother with fine detail that would just disappear, and they don't care about alignment, overspray, or fit, which you can't measure or even apprehend, nor durability, since almost everything is used for a very short time in a zero-stress environment by someone whose standing orders are "don't break the props".
Much of the "metal" will be painted foam or extruded plastic. Controls won't operate. The costumes will appear cobbled together from the cheapest possible fabric and will have strange and coarse alterations, plus any damage that's accumulated since it became junk. Literally all the value left in these items is bragging rights, sentimentality, and ego boost.
Which is going to have to do.
Because I want a pair of Spock's ears. Bad.
We can hope.
Jeez, dude. Half the stories on the shows were about those gadgets malfunctioning! If Paramount had a working warp core or transporter, selling them would be begging for a lawsuit!
... does it come with the Jessica Alba routine preinstalled?
Your mother was an encyclopedia!
That had to be my favorite Star Trek episode. The Inner Light rocked my socks. I think their estimate on its sentimental value to viewers was quite low... and I've got dibs on it anyways. =) lol =)
-Vendal Thornheart
I still got 100 gross in my basement and don't know what to do with them...
I recently watched the movie Trekkies, it was interesting and the Trekkie/Trekker fight was LOL. Since prisoners often are troublemakers, I would think I would see Trekker prisoners (those wanting to start arguments).
Yeah thanks fellow slashdotter(s). "Gay" tag right next to "lame" tag. Real insightful.
//Not a troll, just a comment
See this FAQ:e /16219.html
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/articl
SCIREV.NET - fanfics,reviews & more
I noticed that one of the tags on this article is "gay"...
I am up to here with this 1984'esque redefinition of words. If you want to say "I hate gay people" then fucking stand up and say that... And if you don't, then why are you absent mindedly throwing around the label of a group to mean something sucks? Words hurt.
Think about it for a second. Would it be appropriate to say "That's so black" or "That's deaf"?
And before someone mentions it - yes, calling something "Retarded" really hurts when someone you know has a mental disability. Fuck political correctness --- but there is a difference between hate speech (even "unintentional"), and saying what you mean.
It appears Ockham lost his razor and grew a beard.
Just think, you could buy the mask used on /. for a sci-fi story.
Imagine reading Slashdot at work and having the rubber mask stare out at you with it's mouth wide open with the icon doing the same.
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
Spock's brain?
I'd buy a few tribbles. But I guess they want something like 500$ for each of those cheap fuzzballs...
It would be nice if they'd give some of those sets or rights to the sets to Star Trek Hidden Frontier. I am so sick of the bluescreen background sets that are not proportionate to the characters. I am tired of the characters looking like drop-ins to a set, with the obvious "halo" effect around the actors.
Tragically, CBS/Paramount and Christies will probably make a killing off of this, but the fan-based Web Trek activities could benefit immeasurably in terms of quality and maybe even respark a whole now surge of Trek fan return. Hiddent Frontier deserves to have better sets, assuming they will have a warehouse in which to store them and the money/donations to pay the storage rent.
But, Star Trek Exeter (or is it one of the others?) rebuilt the NCC-1701 bridge based on the actual bluepints so that their bridge doesn't suffer the close-up fisheye effect on STHF. I am, however becoming less bothered by HF's drop-in bluescreen sets, and have been enjoying the first 5 seasons over this past week.
It's amazing the scripts HF, Exeter and the others are turning into fun, tear-jerking, rally-evoking and reminiscence-fueling episodes.
And these people are doing it though donations or their own money. I think STHF, however, is FANTASTIC in that they put in one season or even one episode all of my favorite ships. They rotate characters, double-bill actors, and touch topics Paramount would NEVER EVER touch, at least not the way STHF does. Moreover, HF has funny intros to each act one or the beginning of each opening act of a complete episode.
I hope some of the people affluent enough to OWN this overpriced memorabilia will lease or lend it to STHF, Exeter and the other fan-created episodes.
Fortunately, Paramount has not quashed them. It is almost as inspiring as the judge who slapped down the guy trying his second time to sue/nullify GPL. Thank you Paramount for permitting us to have fan films go where no fan films have gone before. With each STHF and Exeter episode I can freely download and watch, your "generosity" neutralizes a little bit more of my reticence and disdain for "typical Hollywood". (I say that because I am loving the STHF scripts, and I like the fact that EQUAL OPPORTUNITY has extend to "full-figured" bridge crew, ships' captians and so on. REAL Hollywood would probably NEVER financially back and AIR such series divergence from profitability.)
Hmmm, how apropos... slash image word: "births"
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
This is the opposite of funny...
I want the Federation Timeship Aeon, and the Baku life-extending enregy rings and some of the Q Continuum powers. Why?
So I can slipstream my way up and down the Terran timeline and capriciously knock off (or terrorize) a few assholes and the loooong lines of assholes they stemmed from here here and there to make SURE that hegemony, manifest destiny, dynasties and so on don't set back humans. Imagine temporal cop who kicks your ass into line but you cannot do much about it. YOUR RAGE stems from the fact that you cannot BULLY someone who seems to be protected by a Galactic Guardian Angel who is willing to "step in" and do the things the Terran mythical "God" seems to enjoy watching or is too loath to rectify.
The Trek "Prime Directive" seems nice, but aside from being a moral compass of the 1960s to expose or comment on Capitalism and Communism, it was mainly a story dramatic device. But imagine if today and the past 100 years we didn't have nation invasion that started or contributed to 2 world wars. Visualize a world of today being 300 or 400 years AHEAD of where we are no because we could have averted wars, famine, pestilence, maldistribution of resources and medicines. Imagine if GREED were NOT a primary factor in human (superpower and non-superpower) politics.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
What mirth hath you wrought?! I ask of you mirthmaking man, what hath you brought to our heaving guts? I read your comment and I read it again. Could this be true? The funniest TV reference as yet seen on Slashdot? Wow. Now I wish I had watched more TV. I wish that my eyes were rotten from watching TV and it's associated funniness. You have connected a television experience with a Slashdot article about Star Trek. BWAHAHA. I must honestly go for 37 stitches to keep my guts from falling out of my sides. You sir, have set us up the bomb. This bomb has subsequently exploded in pure unadulterated hilarity and covered us in laughter. What say you funnyman? Can you keep up this level of side smashing smirks? The gauntlet has been thrown in the game of absolutely making everyone laugh until the point of urination of one's trousers. I thank you. Through tears of constantly laughing and typing, I thank you.
Several users have provided us with the direct link to the auction site for easy viewing.
Well, if you think that a black screen which doesn't even hint that you need Flash installed is "easy viewing", then maybe so. Even easier to not view it and not waste your money.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
I've read entirely too many news stories about auctions after the fact include talk about an item that went for X times expectations....
think they may ever undervalue an item to get more ink for the auction house later?
naahh....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I'll take fifty cases.
"Employees not recognizing your authority at the office?"
:^)
I think you'd be better served by the *lights* from the "How many lights do you see!?!?!" episode.